This Easy, Comforting Pudding Is My Go-To Dessert

Boricha—Korean toasted barley tea—is a comforting beverage no matter the season. In the fall and winter, I sip on the hot tea to stay warm, and in the summertime, I enjoy it straight out of the fridge as a crisp, refreshing beverage. The tea has rich, nutty notes, with a subtle sweetness and bitterness that cuts through heavy, hearty meals and lends itself well to desserts. 

I got the idea for this pudding one afternoon when I was craving toasted rice ice cream from Noona, a popular New York–based ice cream brand that specializes in flavors that, according to their site, have “Asian American flair,” such as taro, black sesame, and pandan coconut crunch.  Made with pan-roasted rice, their toasted rice ice cream is deeply earthy, with a flavor not unlike that of boricha. I wondered what would happen if I infused milk with boricha. Instead of making ice cream from scratch—a project I did not feel like taking on—I decided to make a boricha pudding. After making batches and batches of pudding, I finally landed on a version that has since become my go-to dessert. It’s creamy and rich with the nutty, grassy notes of boricha, and a touch of sugar enhances the barley’s natural sweetness.

Because boricha is already toasted, there was no need for me to toast it—all I had to do was incorporate it into the pudding. The question was: How? I started by brewing a highly concentrated cup of the finely ground barley tea and stirring that into the milk mixture. This, however, proved to be much too bitter, and resulted in a tea that almost tasted like coffee. I found that steeping the whole grains (instead of finely ground barley) in the milk for 30 minutes—then blending and straining it—produced a more balanced flavor. As the strained milk mixture simmers, I whisk cornstarch, sugar, and salt into it, and cook it until it’s just thick enough to coat a spoon. 

Though I like to eat the pudding warm off the stove, it’s also excellent cold and topped with whipped cream. (Once cooled, it takes on a fun, wobbly consistency.) If you eat it warm, I recommend grating some dark chocolate on top or eating it alongside a speculoos cookie, such as Biscoff. If you’re like my mother, a dusting of bokkeum konggaru—roasted soybean powder—is essential, as it complements the nutty notes of the boricha. 

If you don’t feel like topping it with anything, rest assured that it will still be delicious even when eaten plain. And if you want even more boricha, serve it with a cup of warm or chilled toasted barley tea.

This Easy, Comforting Pudding Is My Go-To Dessert

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